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07/17/2010 - St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A wind delay Friday forced the completion of the second round of the British Open into Saturday morning.
Louis Oosthuizen remained atop the leaderboard as he finished his five-under 67 on Friday.
Oosthuizen completed two rounds at 12-under-par 132, which matched the low 36- hole score for an Open Championship at St. Andrews. Nick Faldo and Greg Norman both posted 132 in 1990.
Mark Calcavecchia, the 1989 Open champion at Royal Troon, also carded a 67 to move into second place at seven-under-par 137.
Englishmen Paul Casey (69) and Lee Westwood (71) share third place at minus- six. They were joined there by Alejandro Canizares (71) and amateur Jin Jeong (70). Jeong was the only amateur to make the cut.
Three-time Open champion Tiger Woods birdied the 18th hole Friday to finish off a one-over 73. He shares 14th place at four-under-par 140.
First-round leader Rory McIlory stumbled to an eight-over 80 to drop into a tie for 38th at one-under-par 143. McIlroy opened with a 63 on Thursday, matching the lowest score in major championship history.
World No. 2 Phil Mickelson shot a 71 that left him at even-par 144 and tied for 43rd.
Miguel Angel Jimenez (67), 1996 British Open champion Tom Lehman (68), Ricky Barnes (71), Peter Hanson (73), U.S. Open winner Graeme McDowell (68), Retief Goosen (70) and Sean O'Hair (72) share seventh place at five-under-par 139. O'Hair was the only player to shoot par after the wind delay.
Stephen Tiley, who was in the last group out off the first tee Friday, stood at minus-six through 10 holes when play was stopped Friday evening. He returned Saturday morning and dropped seven strokes over his final eight holes to tumble to plus-one.
Tom Watson, who nearly won his sixth Open Championship last year, closed with a birdie at the 18th Friday in the final group to complete their round. However, his three-over 75 left him two strokes over the cut line.
NOTES: The cut line fell at two-over-par 146 and 77 players moved on to the weekend...Zach Johnson and Rickie Fowler, who came back from a first-round 79 to shoot five-under 67 in the second round, made the cut on the number...Among those that missed the final two rounds were Justin Rose, Mike Weir, 2002 Open champion Ernie Els, Davis Love III, Angel Cabrera, 2003 winner Ben Curtis, 2004 champ Todd Hamilton, K.J. Choi, Jim Furyk, two-time champion Padraig Harrington, three-time winner and six-time major titlist Faldo and 2001 champion David Duval.
<< Headley, Padres crush Diamondbacks
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chase Headley went 3-for-4 with a double and
home run, helping the San Diego Padres to a 12-1 victory over the Arizona
Diamondbacks in the teams' second-half opener.
Jon Garland (9-6) gave up just one
<< Calvillo leads Als to win at BC
Vancouver, BC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anthony Calvillo completed 30-of-46 passes
for 297 yards to lead the Montreal Alouettes to a 16-12 victory over the
British Columbia Lions at Empire Field in Vancouver.
Avon Cobourne finished with 1
<< Weaver helps Angels edge Hernandez, Mariners
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jered Weaver pitched seven innings of two-run
ball, as the Angels held off the Mariners, 3-2, in the second test of a four-
game series.
Weaver (9-5), who gave up six hits, snapped a two-start skid. The righ
<< Zito sparkles, Giants blank Mets again
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Giants starter Barry Zito tossed eight
brilliant innings to outduel fellow southpaw Jonathan Niese, as San Francisco
blanked the light-hitting New York Mets again, 1-0, at AT&T Park.
Zito (8-4)
Mets try to rebound against homestanding Giants >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets are hoping something will give when they
take on the San Francisco Giants Saturday night in the third installment of a
four-game set at AT&T Park.
New York has lost the first two games of this set
Richard, Padres resume series vs. D'Backs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Clayton Richard was bailed out by his offense the last time
he took the mound. The San Diego Padres hope that Richard won't need the help
when he gets the nod tonight in the second installment of a three-game series
versus
Cards send Wainwright to hill vs. Dodgers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Wainwright will try to become just the second 14-game
winner in the major leagues and remain perfect at home when he leads the St.
Louis Cardinals into the third test of a four-game series tonight versus the
Los Ang
Braves aim to bounce back against Brewers >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Atlanta Braves can't afford to lose any ground in the
competitive National League East Division. Tonight they have a good shot at
bouncing back with Tim Hudson on the mound in the third test of a four-game
series
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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